Road Atlanta in early October saw perfect racing weather as Spec E30 returned to a course many drivers consider one of the most simultaneously daunting and exhilarating on the NASA circuit. Saturday saw the return of several drivers who had spent late September competing at Watkins Glen in the Eastern States Championships. On Saturday Ryan Whitinger set the fast lap in qualifying with Rob Eskew and Mark Issa less than a second behind. With a healthy field of 19 cars behind him, Whitinger used his pole position to set a very fast race pace all the way to the finish. Ty Young finished second and also set the fast lap of the race with a notable 1:44:9.
Tight racing, especially at Road Atlanta’s high-speed Turn 6, took Mark Issa and John Clark out of the race and resulted in a full-course yellow. The restart created a number of position changes and when the checkered flag waved, Whitinger had put 3 seconds between himself and the rest of the field. The closing moments of the race saw Cody Kishel right behind Young to claim the third place on the podium.
Sunday’s weather was even better with temperatures still in the 70s at race time. Whitinger and Eskew turned in blistering sub-1:44-second qualifying laps with Whitinger edging out Eskew for the pole by only 0.45 seconds. Past multiple-time Champion Sandro Espinosa, Young, and Brian Edmonds rounded out the top five starters. After 40 minutes of furious but largely incident-free racing, Whitinger took the checkers in first and took fastest race lap with a 1:43:7. Eskew crossed the line less than second later. Mark Issa, driving a backup car, fought his way from 10th on the grid to finish third.
